Obama pays tribute to Mandela during South Africa trip

The Obama family visited Robben Island in South Africa on Sunday, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned during apartheid. Speaking later at the University of Cape Town, President Obama offered well wishes to Mandela and spoke of his spirit.
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JOHANNESBURG — President Obama paid tribute to South Africa's first black president Sunday, saying Nelson Mandela's long struggle against apartheid and for equality "showed us that one man's courage can move the world.''

Obama, the first black U.S. president, visited the wind-swept Robben Island prison off the coast at Cape Town where Mandela was confined for much of his 27 years as a political prisoner. The president later told young South Africans that the critically ill former leader's vision of equality and opportunity should remain theirs as well.

On Robben Island, Obama stood with his wife Michelle and daughters Malia, 15, and Sasha, 12, in the cramped cell that was home to Mandela for 18 of the 27 years he was in prison before his release in 1990. They viewed the lime quarry where Mandela worked at hard labor and contracted the lung damage that still afflicts him.

"Seeing them stand within the walls that once surrounded Nelson Mandela, I knew this was an experience they would never forget," Obama said, referring to his children.

"I knew that they now appreciated a little bit more the sacrifices that Madiba and others had made for freedom," Obama added, referring to Mandela by his clan name.

The president and his family flew to Cape Town on Sunday after meeting here with members of Mandela's family and speaking by phone with his wife, Graca Machel. Obama did not visit Mandela in the Pretoria hospital where he has been in intensive care since June 8 suffering from complications of a lung infection at the age of 94.

He visited the island prison off shore from the coastal city and later, at the University of Cape Town, reflected on the distinction he shares with Mandela as the first men of color to lead their nations.

"Nelson Mandela showed us that one man's courage can move the world," Obama said.

He was flanked by a diverse array of students, underscoring Mandela's vision for a unified, multiracial "rainbow nation" for the country once led by a white racist government that imposed a system of apartheid, or racial segregation.

In his own effort to carve out a piece of that legacy, Obama unveiled a new initiative to double access to electric power in sub-Saharan Africa with an initial $7 billion investment from the United States. Obama vowed to help bring "light where there is currently darkness."

"It's the connection that's needed to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy," Obama said of the initiative, dubbed "Power Africa."

Private power companies — such as General Electric and Symbion Power — will also make an additional $9 billion in commitments to the power project, which will focus on expanding access to electricity in six African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Obama outlined a U.S. policy toward Africa that focuses on increasing the region's ability to support itself economically, politically and militarily. He said Africans must take much of the responsibility for achieving that goal but pledged American assistance.

"Ultimately I believe Africans should make up their own minds about what serves African interests," Obama said. "We trust your judgment, the judgment of ordinary people. We believe that when you control your destiny, if you got a handle on your governments, then governments will promote freedom and opportunity, because that will serve you."

The White House said Obama's guide during the prison tour was 83-year-old South African politician Ahmed Kathrada, who also was held at the prison for nearly two decades and guided Obama on his 2006 visit to the prison as a U.S. senator.

The president also saw the prison courtyard where Mandela planted grapevines that remain today, and where he and others in the dissident leadership discussed politics and hid writings from their guards.

"On behalf of our family, we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield. The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit," Obama wrote in the guest book.

The tour included a stop at the lime quarry where Mandela toiled and developed the lung problems that sent him to the hospital for most of the month. Obama commented on the "hard labor" Mandela endured and asked Kathrada to remind his daughters, Malia and Sasha, how long Mandela was in prison.

After the tour, Obama visited a community center with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Obama said the U.S. seeks "a partnership that empowers Africans to access greater opportunity in their own lives." He dismissed the notion that the U.S. sought to meddle in Africa's affairs, saying his country would benefit from the continent's ability to manage its own affairs — economically, politically and militarily.

The initiative is aimed at expanding the reach of power grids and developing solar, wind, geothermal and hydro power.

Obama is in South Africa as part of a week-long trip to three countries on the continent. His first stop was in Senegal where the president met with Senegalese President Macky Sall. On Monday, Obama will head to Tanzania in east Africa for two days.

His stay in South Africa has been overshadowed in part by Mandela's failing health. The anti-apartheid hero has been hospitalized for most of June and is said to be in critical condition. Contributing: William M. Welch, the Associated Press